Transmission of signaling in an ofdm-based system

ABSTRACT

Techniques for efficiently transmitting various types of signaling on the forward and reverse links in an OFDM-based system are described. Instead of specifically allocating subbands to individual signaling channels, signaling data for a signaling channel on a given link is sent as “underlay” to other transmissions that may be sent on the same link. Each wireless terminal is assigned a different PN code. The signaling data for each terminal is spectrally spread over all or a portion of the system bandwidth using the assigned PN code. For the reverse link, a wireless terminal may transmit signaling on all N usable subbands and may transmit traffic data on L subbands assigned for data transmission, which may be a subset of the N usable subbands. For the forward link, a base station may transmit signaling and traffic data for all terminals on the N usable subbands.

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.10/944,146, entitled “TRANSMISSION OF SIGNALING IN AN OFDM-BASED SYSTEM”filed Sep. 16, 2004, which claims the benefit of provisional U.S.Application Ser. No. 60/604,660 entitled “Transmitting Physical LayerSignaling as Underlay in OFDMA Systems,” filed Aug. 25, 2004, thecontents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

I. Field

The present invention relates generally to communication, and morespecifically to transmission of signaling in a wireless communicationsystem.

II. Background

A multiple-access system can concurrently support communication formultiple terminals on the forward and reverse links. The forward link(or downlink) refers to the communication link from the base stations tothe terminals, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to thecommunication link from the terminals to the base stations. Anorthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system is amultiple-access system that utilizes orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplexing (OFDM). OFDM is a multi-carrier modulation technique thateffectively partitions the overall system bandwidth into multiple (N)orthogonal frequency subbands. These subbands are also referred to astones, sub-carriers, bins, frequency channels, and so on. Each subbandis associated with a respective sub-carrier that may be modulated withdata. The OFDMA system may assign a different set of subbands to eachterminal, and data for the terminal may be sent on the assignedsubbands. By using non-overlapping subband sets for different terminals,interference among the terminals may be avoided, and improvedperformance may be achieved.

Various signaling channels are typically used by a physical layer tosupport data transmission on the forward and reverse links. Thesesignaling channels may carry requests for certain information, therequested information, acknowledgments (ACKs), and so on. Some subbandsmay be set aside on each link and used for the signaling channels forthat link. However, dedicating subbands specifically for the signalingchannels may represent inefficient use of the available subbands sincethe signaling channels may be intermittently active and may carry only asmall amount of data when active. Each subband that is dedicated for thesignaling channels represents one less subband that may be used for datatransmission.

There is therefore a need in the art for techniques to more efficientlytransmit signaling in an OFDMA system.

SUMMARY

Techniques for efficiently transmitting various types of signaling onthe forward and reverse links in an OFDM-based system are describedherein. Instead of specifically allocating subbands to individualsignaling channels, signaling data for a given signaling channel on agiven (forward or reverse) link may be sent as “underlay” to othertransmissions that may be sent on the same link. Each wireless terminalmay be assigned a different pseudo-random number (PN) code or sequence.The signaling data for each terminal may be spectrally spread over allor a portion of the system bandwidth using the PN code assigned to theterminal. The processing gain from the spreading allows the signalingdata to be sent at a low power level so that the signaling may onlymarginally impact the performance of the other transmissions being sentconcurrently.

In an embodiment, a transmitting entity (which may be a base station ora wireless terminal) includes a signaling modulator, a data modulator,and a combiner. The signaling modulator spectrally spreads signalingdata over M subbands and generates signaling chips. The M subbands maybe all or a subset of N subbands usable for transmission. The signalingmodulator may multiply the signaling data with a PN sequence anddirectly generate the signaling chips. Alternatively, the signalingmodulator may multiply the signaling data with the PN sequence to obtainspread signaling data, map the spread signaling data onto the Msubbands, and perform OFDM modulation on the mapped and spread signalingdata to generate the signaling chips. The data modulator maps datasymbols onto L subbands used for data transmission, where 1<L≦N, andfurther performs OFDM modulation on the mapped data symbols to generatedata chips. The combiner combines (e.g., scales and sums) the signalingchips with the data chip and generates output chips.

For the reverse link, a wireless terminal may transmit signaling on allN usable subbands and may transmit traffic/packet data on the L subbandsassigned to the terminal for data transmission, which may be a subset ofthe N usable subbands. For the forward link, a base station may transmitsignaling and traffic data for all terminals on the N usable subbands.Signaling and traffic data may also be transmitted in other manners onthe forward and reverse links, as described below. Various types ofsignaling may be sent in the manner described herein.

A receiving entity performs the complementary processing to recover thetransmitted signaling and traffic data. Various aspects and embodimentsof the invention are described in further detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features and nature of the present invention will become moreapparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken inconjunction with the drawings in which like reference charactersidentify correspondingly throughout and wherein:

FIG. 1 shows an OFDMA system with base stations and wireless terminals;

FIG. 2 illustrates a frequency hopping (FH) scheme;

FIG. 3 shows an incremental redundancy (IR) transmission scheme;

FIGS. 4A through 4D illustrate different signaling transmission schemes;

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of a base station and a terminal;

FIG. 6 shows a modulator with a data/pilot modulator, a multi-carriersignaling modulator, and a time-domain combiner;

FIG. 7 shows a modulator with a data modulator, a pilot modulator, asingle-carrier signaling modulator, and a time-domain combiner;

FIG. 8 shows a modulator with a data modulator, a pilot modulator, amulti-carrier signaling modulator, and a frequency-domain combiner;

FIG. 9 shows a demodulator for the modulator in FIG. 6; and

FIG. 10 shows a demodulator for the modulator in FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example,instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment or design described herein as“exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred oradvantageous over other embodiments or designs.

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary OFDMA system 100 with a number of basestations 110 that support communication for a number of wirelessterminals 120. A base station is a fixed station used for communicatingwith the terminals and may also be called an access point, a Node B, orsome other terminology. Terminals 120 are typically dispersed throughoutthe system, and each terminal may be fixed or mobile. A terminal mayalso be called a mobile station, a user equipment (UE), a wirelesscommunication device, or some other terminology. Each terminal maycommunicate with one or possibly multiple base stations on the forwardand reverse links at any given moment. A system controller 130 providescoordination and control for base stations 110 and further controlsrouting of data for the terminals served by these base stations.

Each base station 110 provides communication coverage for a respectivegeographic area. A base station and/or its coverage area may be referredto as a “cell”, depending on the context in which the term is used. Toincrease capacity, the coverage area of each base station may bepartitioned into multiple (e.g., three) sectors. Each sector is servedby a base transceiver subsystem (BTS). For a sectorized cell, the basestation for that cell typically includes the BTSs for all sectors ofthat cell. For simplicity, in the following description, the term “basestation” is used generically for both a fixed station that serves a celland a fixed station that serves a sector. The terms “user” and“terminal” are also used interchangeably herein.

The OFDMA system has N total subbands, which are created by OFDM. All ora subset of the N total subbands may be used to transmit traffic data,pilot, and signaling. Typically, some subbands are not used fortransmission and serve as guard subbands to allow the system to meetspectral mask requirements. For simplicity, the following descriptionassumes that all N total subbands are usable for transmission, i.e.,there are no guard subbands.

FIG. 2 illustrates a frequency hopping (FH) scheme 200 that may be usedfor the forward and/or reverse link in the OFDMA system. Frequencyhopping can provide frequency diversity against deleterious path effectsand randomization of interference from other cells/sectors. Withfrequency hopping, each terminal is assigned a traffic channel that isassociated with an FH sequence that indicates a specific group of one ormore subbands to use in each “hop” period. The FH sequence may also becalled a hop pattern or some other terminology. A hop period is theamount of time spent on a given subband group and spans R OFDM symbolperiods (or simply, “symbol period”), where R≧1. The FH sequence maypseudo-randomly select different subband groups in different hopperiods. Frequency diversity is achieved by selecting all or many of theN usable subbands over some number of hop periods.

For the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the N usable subbands are arrangedinto G groups. Each group contains S subbands, where in general G>1,S≧1, and G·S≦N. The subbands in each group may be contiguous (as shownin FIG. 2) or non-contiguous (e.g., distributed across the N usablesubbands). Each terminal may be assigned one group of S subbands in eachhop period. Pilot symbols may be time division multiplexed (TDM) withdata symbols (as shown in FIG. 2), frequency division multiplexed (FDM)with data symbols (not shown in FIG. 2), or sent in some other manner.As used herein, a “data” symbol is a modulation symbol for traffic data,a “pilot” symbol is a modulation symbol for pilot, and a modulationsymbol is a complex value for a point in a signal constellation for amodulation scheme. A pilot is typically composed of known modulationsymbols that are processed and transmitted in a known manner.

The traffic channels for different terminals in communication with thesame base station are typically orthogonal to one another so that no twoterminals use the same subband in any given hop period. This avoidsintra-cell/sector interference among the terminals communicating withthe same base station. The traffic channels for each base station may bepseudo-random with respect to the traffic channels for nearby basestations. Interference between two terminals communicating with twodifferent base stations occurs whenever their traffic channels use thesame subband in the same hop period. However, this inter-cell/sectorinterference is randomized due to the pseudo-random nature of the FHsequences used for the traffic channels.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary data and pilot transmission scheme withfrequency hopping. Traffic data and pilot may also be transmitted inother manners, with or without frequency hopping.

The OFDMA system may utilize various signaling channels at the physicallayer to support data transmission on the forward and reverse links. Thesignaling channels may also be called control channels, overheadchannels, and so on. The signaling channels are often used to send(typically) small amounts of signaling for the physical layer and may beprocessed and transmitted by the physical layer with small amount ofdelay. The signaling channels needed for each link are typicallydependent on various factors such as, e.g., the manner in which trafficdata is transmitted, the manner in which signaling is transmitted, thedesign of the traffic and signaling channels, and so on. Some exemplarysignaling channels are described below. For clarity, each signalingchannel sent on the forward link (FL) is labeled as “channel_name-FL”,and each signaling channel sent on the reverse link (RL) is labeled as“channel_name-RL”.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary incremental redundancy (IR) transmissionscheme for the forward link, which is also commonly called a hybridAutomatic Repeat ReQuest (H-ARQ) transmission scheme. If a base stationhas data to send to a terminal, the base station transmits a data ratecontrol (DRC) request on a DRCReq-FL channel to the terminal. This DRCrequest asks for the received signal quality at the terminal so thatdata may be sent at an appropriate data rate to the terminal. Theterminal receives the DRC request, estimates the received signal qualityfor the forward link from the base station, and sends a DRC value on aDRC-RL channel to the base station. The received signal quality may bequantified by a signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR), anenergy-per-chip-to-total-noise ratio (E_(c)/N_(t)), anenergy-per-chip-to-noise ratio (E_(c)/N_(o)), a carrier-to-interferenceratio (C/I), or some other signal quality metric. The DRC value may be aquantized version of the SINR measured by the terminal, a data ratedeemed to be supported by the measured SINR, or some other information.

The base station receives the DRC value from the terminal and selects adata rate to use for data transmission to the terminal. The base stationthen processes (e.g., encodes and modulates) a data packet at theselected data rate and partitions the coded packet into multiple datablocks. The first data block may contain sufficient information to allowthe terminal to recover the data packet under good channel condition.Each remaining data block contains additional redundancy information forthe data packet.

The base station transmits the first data block on a traffic channel tothe terminal. The terminal receives the transmitted data block,processes (e.g., demodulates and decodes) the received block, anddetermines whether the data packet was decoded correctly. If the packetwas not decoded correctly, the terminal sends a negative acknowledgment(NAK) on an ACK-RL channel to the base station. The base station thentransmits the second data block upon receiving the NAK. The terminalreceives the transmitted data block, combines soft-decision symbols forthe first and second data blocks, and decodes the packet based on thesoft-decision symbols. The terminal sends another NAK on the ACK-RLchannel if the packet is not decoded correctly. The block transmissionand decoding continue in this manner until the packet is decodedcorrectly by the terminal or all data blocks for the packet have beentransmitted by the base station. The terminal may send new DRC valuesperiodically on the DRC-RL channel, whenever requested by the basestation, after successfully decoding data packets, and so on.

For clarity, FIG. 3 shows transmission of both NAKs and ACKs on theACK-RL channel. For an ACK-based scheme, the terminal transmits an ACKonly if a packet is decoded correctly and does not transmit any NAKs.The absence of an ACK is presumed to be a NAK.

As shown in FIG. 3, some delays are incurred for the terminal to decodea packet and send feedback on the ACK-RL channel and for the basestation to detect the ACK-RL channel and determine whether another blockneeds to be sent for the packet. The transmission time line may bepartitioned into frames. Each frame may be further partitioned intomultiple (Q) slots that may be assigned slot indices of 1 through Q,where Q>1 (e.g., Q=4). One data block may be sent in each slot, and theQ slots in each frame may be used to send data blocks for up to Qdifferent packets to the same terminal or to different terminals. Thedata blocks for each packet may be sent in consecutive frames and onslots with the same slot index.

Table 1 lists exemplary signaling channels for the forward and reverselinks. Each of these signaling channels is described below.

TABLE 1 Signaling channel Description DRCReq-FL Used to send requestsfor DRC information from the terminals. ACK-FL Used to send ACKs forpackets received from the terminals. ResGrant-FL Used to send resourcegrants, or allocation of air-link resources (e.g., subbands) for thereverse link, to the terminals. PC-FL Used to send power control (PC)commands to direct the terminals to adjust their transmit power. DRC-RLUsed to send DRC information to the base station. ACK-RL Used to sendACKs for packets received from the base station. ResReq-RL Used to sendrequests for air-link resources on the reverse link.

The DRCReq-FL, DRC-RL, and ACK-RL channels are used for datatransmission on the forward link, as shown in FIG. 3. The base stationuses the DRCReq-FL channel to send requests for DRC information from theterminal. The terminal uses the DRC-RL channel to send DRC valuesindicative of its received SINR for the forward link. Each DRC value maybe represented by a predetermined number of bits (e.g., four bits). Thebase station may select a data rate for each packet based on the latestDRC value obtained from the terminal.

In the OFDMA system, the interference level observed by the terminalfrom other cells/sectors may vary considerably over time due to variousfactors such as, e.g., power control for forward link transmissions,partial loading on the forward link (e.g., transmitting on only a subsetof the N usable subbands), and so on. Consequently, the SINR estimateobtained by the terminal for a given slot may be a poor prediction ofthe SINR for a future slot.

The base station may select an aggressive data rate for each packet andrely on the IR transmission to correct for prediction error and toensure robust reception of the packet. The IR transmission allows forless accurate SINR estimates and lower update rate for the DRC values.In one embodiment, the terminal sends DRC values at a low rate. Inanother embodiment, the base station prompts the terminal to send a DRCvalue whenever a packet is scheduled to be sent to the terminal. Forthis embodiment, only terminals that are scheduled to receive packetswill send DRC values. The average number of DRC values sent on thereverse link is then equal to the average number of packets sent on theforward link. In yet another embodiment, the base station determines ifa new SINR estimate is needed for the terminal, e.g., based on the ageof the last DRC value received from the terminal. If the base stationdetermines that the SINR estimate needs updating, then the base stationsends a DRC request on the DRCReq-FL channel.

The terminal sends ACKs on the ACK-RL channel for packets received fromthe base station. The number of ACKs sent per second on the ACK-RLchannel is approximately equal to the number of packets sent per secondon the forward link. The number of packets sent on the forward link is afunction of the applications being carried on the forward link. The ACKrate for the ACK-RL channel may be estimated as the throughput persector divided by the average packet length on the forward link. Theaverage packet length may be computed based on an assumption on the mixof applications being supported on the forward link.

The base station sends ACKs on the ACK-FL channel for packets receivedfrom the terminals. The ACK-FL channel may be operated in the samemanner described above for the ACK-RL channel.

The terminal uses the ResReq-RL channel to send requests for air-linkresources (e.g., subbands) on the reverse link. The terminal may send aresource request whenever it has data to send on the reverse link. Theresource request may include any number of bits. In an embodiment, tominimize overhead for the ResReq-RL channel, the resource requestconsists of one bit and informs the base station that the terminal hasdata to send. The base station may assign a predetermined amount ofreverse link resources to the terminal, e.g., a certain number ofsubbands, a traffic channel for a certain data rate (e.g., 9.6 Kbps),and so on. In another embodiment, the resource request indicates aspecific data rate that the terminal has selected from among multipledata rates supported by the OFDMA system. The base station may assignthe terminal with reverse link resources for the requested data rate orsome other data rate. In yet another embodiment, the resource requestindicates the amount of data (or buffer size) to be sent by theterminal. The base station may allocate reverse link resources to theterminal based on the buffer size.

The reverse link allocation may indicate specific parameters to use forreverse link transmission (e.g., specific subbands, code rate,modulation scheme, and transmit power level to use for reverse linktransmission). The reverse link allocation may also allow the terminalsome flexibility in the reverse link transmission, e.g., to use a highercode rate and/or a higher order modulation scheme to send more data, ifneeded. For example, the terminal may be allocated 19.2 KHz of bandwidthon the reverse link and may be allowed to transmit at a data rate of 9.6Kbps or 19.2 kbps on this 19.2 KHz bandwidth. The terminal may use moretransmit power when transmitting at the higher data rate to ensurereliable data reception by the base station. The allocation of aflexible rate reduces the number of bits needed for the resource requestsent on the ResReq-RL channel.

The base station uses the ResGrant-FL channel to send allocation ofreverse link resources to the terminals. Each terminal in the OFDMAsystem may be assigned a Medium Access Channel (MAC) identifier thatunambiguously identifies that terminal. A grant message sent on theResGrant-FL channel may convey various types of information and may haveany format. For example, a grant message sent to a given terminal mayinclude (1) the MAC identifier (ID) of the terminal, (2) a channel IDfor the traffic channel assigned to the terminal, and (3) possibly someother parameters. The number of bits to use for the MAC ID and channelID are dependent on the system design, the MAC design, and possiblyother factors. A 10-bit MAC ID may be adequate to cover both active andidle terminals in the OFDMA system, although some other MAC ID sizes mayalso be used. A 6-bit channel ID may be used to identify 64 trafficchannels. For example, if the system bandwidth is 1.2288 MHz, then eachof the 64 traffic channels may have a bandwidth of 19.2 KHz. Otherchannel ID sizes may also be used.

The terminal may be initially assigned one traffic channel. The terminalmay request additional bandwidth on the reverse link, e.g., in aresource request or in a data packet sent on the reverse link. The basestation may then assign one or more additional traffic channels to theterminal and may send the channel ID of each assigned traffic channel ina grant message.

The base station uses the PC-FL channel to send PC commands to theterminals. The signaling transmission from each terminal on the reverselink, if sent as underlay across all N usable subbands, acts asinterference to the signaling and data transmissions from otherterminals on the reverse link. The transmit power for the signalingtransmission from each terminal may be adjusted to achieve the desiredperformance while reducing the amount of interference to otherterminals.

Each base station transmits a pilot on the forward link, which is usedby the terminals for channel estimation, timing and frequencyacquisition, data detection, and so on. Each terminal may also transmita pilot on the reverse link. The pilot for each link may be designedbased on the specific requirements for that link and may be viewed asanother signaling channel.

The signaling channels for the forward and reverse links may carrydifferent types of signaling and may use various formats. The signalingchannels may also be transmitted in various manners. Some exemplarydesigns and transmission schemes for the signaling channels aredescribed below.

A given signaling channel on a given (forward or reverse) link may beefficiently transmitted as underlay to other transmissions that may besent on the same link. Each terminal in the OFDMA system may be assigneda different PN code that uniquely identifies that terminal. Thesignaling data for a given terminal may be spectrally spread over all ora portion of the system bandwidth with the PN code assigned to thatterminal. In one embodiment, the signaling data for the terminal isspread over the entire system bandwidth and is underlay to othertransmissions. In another embodiment, the signaling data for theterminal is spread over the portion of the bandwidth that is assigned tothe terminal and is underlay to the data transmission for that terminal.In yet another embodiment, the signaling data for the terminal is spreadover a portion of the bandwidth that is specifically allocated forsignaling for all terminals and is underlay to signaling transmissionsfor the other terminals. In yet another embodiment, the signaling datais spread over a portion of the bandwidth that is specifically allocatedfor signaling and is not used for data transmission. For thisembodiment, the system bandwidth may be divided into (1) a signalingbandwidth where signaling data may be sent in a CDMA fashion and (2) areservation-based data transmission bandwidth where traffic data may betransmitted based on prior reservations or assignments. The signalingdata may also be spread in other manners.

Each signaling bit is transmitted with sufficient energy to achievereliable detection of that bit by a receiving entity. If the signalingbit is spread over all or a portion of the system bandwidth, then theenergy for the bit is correspondingly spread across the bandwidth usedto send the bit. The signaling bit will then have a large spreadingfactor or processing gain when spread over a large portion of thebandwidth and may be transmitted at a low power level. If the data ratefor a signaling channel is low, then the received power at the receivingentity for the signaling channel may be below thermal noise and may onlymarginally impact the performance of the other transmissionsconcurrently received by the receiving entity.

As an example, the OFDMA system may have N=2048 usable subbands. Onesignaling bit may be spread across all 2048 subbands in one OFDM symbolperiod with a user-specific PN code of length 2048. The spread signalingbit for each subband is summed with the data symbol (if any) being senton the subband and would cause interference to that data symbol.However, since one signaling bit is spread across 2048 subbands, theinterference caused to the data symbols will be small. For example, ifthe SINR required to reliably detect the signaling bit is 5 dB and theprocessing gain is 33 dB for 2048 subbands, then the signaling bit maybe sent at 28 dB (or 5 dB−33 dB=−28 dB) below the traffic data.

FIG. 4A shows an exemplary transmission of signaling data as underlay totraffic data and pilot on the forward link. In this example, thesignaling data for all terminals is spread across the entire systembandwidth or all N usable subbands. The signaling is small in amplituderelative to the traffic data and pilot because of the spreading with thePN codes. The signaling data for all terminals is superimposed on top ofone another. Each terminal can recover its signaling data by performingthe complementary despreading with its assigned PN code, as describedbelow.

FIG. 4B shows an exemplary transmission of signaling data as underlay totraffic data and pilot on the reverse link. In this example, a terminaltransmits traffic data on a traffic channel that is allocated a group ofS subbands, e.g., as shown in FIG. 2. The terminal spreads and sends itssignaling data on all N usable subbands.

For both the forward and reverse links, transmission of the signalingchannels as underlay avoids the need to allocate specific bandwidth orsubbands for these signaling channels. Some signaling channels (e.g.,the ResReq-RL channel) may only be needed at certain (sporadic) timeswhen there is signaling data to send on these signaling channels.Allocating specific bandwidth for these signaling channels would beinefficient since the allocated bandwidth may not be fully utilized muchof the time. With underlay transmission, no bandwidth is explicitlyallocated for the signaling channels. Instead, these signaling channelsare transmitted as background transmission whenever there is signalingdata to send.

On the reverse link, each terminal may have only a small amount ofsignaling data to send for each signaling channel. Moreover, thetransmission on each signaling channel may be sporadic. Explicitallocation of bandwidth to each terminal for its signaling channels maybe highly inefficient. The underlay transmission allows all terminals toshare the entire system bandwidth or a designated portion of the systembandwidth for signaling transmission. Furthermore, statisticalmultiplexing gain may be achieved for the signaling transmissions fromall terminals on the reverse link. If the terminals independentlytransmit their signaling channels as underlay, then the received powerat the base station for the underlay transmissions from all of theterminals will be randomized and appear as (more or less) random noiseto the data transmissions, similar to the reverse link in a CDMA system.The underlay transmissions result in a “rise over thermal” noise, whichis additional noise over thermal noise. The magnitude of the additionalnoise is dependent on the amount of signaling data sent by all terminalsas underlay on the reverse link. The underlay transmission is scalablebecause if more signaling data is sent, then the rise over thermalincreases and traffic data throughput decreases accordingly.

For the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, a terminal is allocated S subbandsin each hop period of R symbol periods and may transmit up to S×Rmodulation symbols in each hop period. The terminal may transmit itspilot in a TDM manner as shown in FIG. 2 (e.g., on all S subbands in oneor more symbol periods of each hop period) or in an FDM manner (e.g., onone or more subbands in all R symbol periods of each hop period). In anycase, some (e.g., 10 to 20%) of the S×R modulation symbols are pilotsymbols, and the remaining modulation symbols may be data symbols.

The terminal may also transmit its pilot as underlay on the reverselink. In this case, a pilot symbol and a data symbol may be sent on thesame subband. S×R pilot symbols may be sent on the S subbands in the Rsymbol periods of each hop period as underlay to the traffic data. Theterminal may scale the data and pilot symbols for each subband toachieve the desired channel estimation and data detection performance.

A receiving entity may estimate and cancel the interference from asignaling transmission sent as underlay to reduce the impact of thistransmission. The receiving entity detects the signaling transmission,estimates the interference due to the detected signaling, and subtractsthe interference estimate from the received signal to obtain aninterference-canceled signal having improved signal quality. Theinterference cancellation may be performed in the time or frequencydomain. For frequency-domain interference cancellation, the receivingentity may multiply the detected signaling data for each subband with achannel gain estimate for that subband to generate the interferencecomponent for the subband. The receiving entity may then subtract theinterference component for each subband from the received signalcomponent for that subband to obtain the interference-canceled signalcomponent for the subband. This cancels the effect of the detectedsignaling on each subband. For time-domain interference cancellation,the receiving entity may multiply the detected signaling with a channelimpulse response estimate to obtain a time-domain interference estimate.The receiving entity may then subtract this interference estimate fromthe received signal to obtain a time-domain interference-canceledsignal. In any case, the receiving entity performs data detection on theinterference-canceled signal instead of the received signal.

On the forward link, certain types of signaling (e.g., ACKs, resourcegrants, and so on) for all of the terminals may be multiplexed onto ashared signaling channel that may be used for all terminals. The basestation has knowledge of the signaling data to be sent to the terminalsand can efficiently perform the multiplexing of the signaling data. Forexample, messages for resource grants for all terminals may bemultiplexed and sent on a shared ResGrant-FL channel. The sharedsignaling channel may be allocated a certain number of subbands in eachsymbol period and may also hop across the N usable subbands, e.g., asshown in FIG. 2.

The terminals may be located throughout the OFDMA system and may achievedifferent received SINRs for the same amount of transmit power used forthe shared signaling channel. For example, if the total transmit poweravailable at the base station is evenly distributed across the N usablesubbands, then some terminals may achieve received SINRs greater thanthe target SINR while other terminals may achieve received SINRs lowerthan the target SINR. To ensure that all terminals can reliably receivetheir resource grant messages, more transmit power may be used for theshared signaling channel for each terminal with a received SINR lowerthan the target SINR. The additional transmit power for the sharedsignaling channel may come from the transmit power used for theremaining subbands. As an example, if a received SINR of 5 dB is neededfor reliable detection of the shared signaling channel and a terminalachieves a received SINR of −10 dB, then the transmit power for theshared signaling channel may be boosted by 15 dB so that the terminalcan achieve the required SINR of 5 dB. If there are 2048 usable subbandsand 32 subbands are allocated to the shared signaling channel, then thetransmit power for this channel may be increased by 15 dB by reducingthe transmit power for each remaining subband by 3 dB. If anotherterminal achieves a received SINR of −5 dB, then the transmit power forthe shared signaling channel may be boosted by 10 dB by reducing thetransmit power for each remaining subband by 0.75 dB. The received SINRachieved by each terminal may be ascertained, e.g., based on the DRCvalue sent by the terminal.

The base station may send messages for different terminals on the sharedsignaling channel using TDM, FDM, or code division multiplexing (CDM).The base station may also spread each message across all of the subbandsallocated to the shared signaling channel.

FIG. 4C shows an exemplary transmission of the shared signaling channel.In this example, traffic data and pilot are transmitted at the samepower level, and the signaling data for the shared signaling channel istransmitted at a higher power level than that of the traffic data andpilot. The power level for the shared signaling channel can change overtime based on the received SINRs for the terminals receiving this sharedsignaling channel.

Using a fixed number of subbands for the shared signaling channel andadjusting the transmit power to achieve the required SNR at theterminals can simplify the processing by the terminals for the sharedsignaling channel. Furthermore, the total transmit power may beefficiently shared between signaling and traffic data to achieve goodperformance for both types of data. More transmit power may be used forthe shared signaling channel whenever needed. All of the transmit powermay be used for traffic data if no signaling is being sent in any givensymbol period. The number of subbands to use for the shared signalingchannel may be determined by the performance of the best terminal, thenominal terminal, or some other terminal. Different types of signaling(e.g., ACKs and resource grants) may be sent on different sharedsignaling channels. Each shared signaling channel may be operated asdescribed above.

Certain types of signaling (e.g., ACKs) for the forward link may also besent on dedicated signaling channels, e.g., one dedicated signalingchannel for each terminal. Dedicated signaling channels may be used if asufficient amount of signaling data is sent in a somewhat regularmanner. For example, each terminal that is actively transmitting on thereverse link may be allocated one or more traffic channels, and eachreverse link traffic channel may be associated with an ACK-FL channel.For each reverse link traffic channel that is actively used, thecorresponding ACK-FL channel is used to send ACKs for the traffic data.The dedicated signaling channels may be transmitted in an FDM or TDMmanner. For FDM, each dedicated signaling channel may be allocated acertain number of subbands, which may be distributed across the N usablesubbands to achieve frequency diversity. For TDM, a certain number ofsubbands are allocated for all dedicated signaling channels, and eachdedicated signaling channel may be assigned certain symbol periodswithin a frame or slot. For both FDM and TDM, the transmit power foreach dedicated signaling channel may be increased or decreased from anominal value, as needed, by taking transmit power for allocated totraffic data/pilot, similar to that described above for the sharedsignaling channel. The transmit power for each dedicated signalingchannel may also be used for traffic data/pilot if no signaling is beingsent on that signaling channel.

FIG. 4D shows an exemplary transmission of the dedicated signalingchannels. In this example, different dedicated signaling channels aretransmitted at different power levels. For simplicity, FIG. 4D showseach dedicated signaling channel being allocated one or more contiguoussubbands. The subbands for each dedicated signaling channel may also bedistributed across the N usable subbands to achieve frequency diversity.

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of a base station 110 x and a terminal 120x, which are one of the base stations and terminals in FIG. 1. For theforward link, at base station 110 x, a transmit (TX) data processor 510receives traffic data for all of the terminals, processes (e.g.,encodes, interleaves, and symbol maps) the traffic data for eachterminal based on a coding and modulation scheme selected for thatterminal, and provides data symbols for each terminal. A modulator 520receives the data symbols for all terminals, pilot symbols, andsignaling for all terminals (e.g., from a controller 540), performsmodulation for each type of data as described below, and provides astream of output chips. A transmitter unit (TMTR) 522 processes (e.g.,converts to analog, filters, amplifies, and frequency upconverts) theoutput chip stream to generate a modulated signal, which is transmittedfrom an antenna 524.

At terminal 120 x, the modulated signal transmitted by base station 110x and possibly other base stations are received by an antenna 552. Areceiver unit (RCVR) 554 processes (e.g., conditions and digitizes) thereceived signal from antenna 552 and provides received samples. Ademodulator (Demod) 560 processes (e.g., demodulates and detects) thereceived samples and provides detected data symbols for terminal 120 x.Each detected data symbol is a noisy estimate of a data symboltransmitted by base station 110 x to terminal 120 x. A receive (RX) dataprocessor 562 processes (e.g., symbol demaps, deinterleaves, anddecodes) the detected data symbols and provides decoded data.

For the reverse link, at terminal 120 x, traffic data is processed by aTX data processor 568 to generate data symbols. A modulator 570processes the data symbols, pilot symbols, and signaling from terminal120 x for the reverse link and provides an output chip stream, which isfurther conditioned by a transmitter unit 572 and transmitted fromantenna 552. At base stations 110 x, the modulated signals transmittedby terminal 120 x and other terminals are received by antenna 524,conditioned and digitized by a receiver unit 528, and processed by ademodulator 530 to detect the data symbols and signaling sent by eachterminal. An RX data processor 532 processes the detected data symbolsfor each terminal and provides decoded data for the terminal. Controller540 receives the detected signaling data and controls the datatransmissions on the forward and reverse links.

Controllers 540 and 580 direct the operation at base station 110 x andterminal 120 x, respectively. Memory units 542 and 582 store programcodes and data used by controllers 540 and 580, respectively.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of a modulator 570 a, which may be used formodulator 520 or 570 in FIG. 5. Modulator 570 a includes (1) adata/pilot modulator 610 that can send data and pilot symbols in a TDMor FDM manner, (2) a multi-carrier signaling modulator 630 that can sendsignaling as underlay on all of a subset of the N usable subbands, and(3) a combiner 660 that performs time-domain combining.

Within data/pilot modulator 610, a multiplexer (Mux) 614 receives andmultiplexes data symbols with pilot symbols. For each OFDM symbolperiod, a symbol-to-subband mapper 616 maps the multiplexed data andpilot symbols onto the subbands assigned for data and pilot transmissionin that symbol period. Mapper 616 also provides a signal value of zerofor each subband not used for transmission. For each symbol period,mapper 616 provides N transmit symbols for the N total subbands, whereeach transmit symbol may be a data symbol, a pilot symbol, or azero-signal value. For each symbol period, an inverse fast Fouriertransform (IFFT) unit 618 transforms the N transmit symbols to the timedomain with an N-point IFFT and provides a “transformed” symbol thatcontains N time-domain chips. Each chip is a complex value to betransmitted in one chip period. A parallel-to-serial (P/S) converter 620serializes the N time-domain chips. A cyclic prefix generator 622repeats a portion of each transformed symbol to form an OFDM symbol thatcontains N+C chips, where C is the number of chips being repeated. Therepeated portion is often called a cyclic prefix and is used to combatinter-symbol interference (ISI) caused by frequency selective fading. AnOFDM symbol period corresponds to the duration of one OFDM symbol, whichis N+C chip periods. Cyclic prefix generator 622 provides a stream ofdata/pilot chips. IFFT unit 618, P/S converter 620, and cyclic prefixgenerator 622 form an OFDM modulator.

Within signaling modulator 630, a multiplier 632 receives and multipliessignaling data with a PN sequence from a PN generator 634 and providesspread signaling data. The signaling data for each terminal is spreadwith the PN sequence assigned to the terminal. A symbol-to-subbandmapper 636 maps the spread signaling data onto the subbands used forsignaling transmission, which may be all or a subset of the N usablesubbands. An IFFT unit 638, a P/S converter 640, and a cyclic prefixgenerator 642 perform OFDM modulation on the mapped and spread signalingdata and provide a stream of signaling chips.

Within combiner 660, a multiplier 662 a multiplies the data/pilot chipsfrom modulator 610 with a gain of G_(data). A multiplier 662 bmultiplies the signaling chips from modulator 630 with a gain ofG_(signal). The gains G_(data) and G_(signal) determine the amount oftransmit power to use for traffic data and signaling, respectively, andmay be set to achieve good performance for both. A summer 664 sums thescaled chips from multipliers 662 a and 662 b and provides the outputchips for modulator 570 a.

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of a modulator 570 b, which may also beused for modulator 520 or 570 in FIG. 5. Modulator 570 b includes (1) adata modulator 710 that can send data symbols on subbands used for datatransmission, (2) a pilot modulator 730 that can send pilot symbols asunderlay on all of a subset of the N usable subbands, (3) asingle-carrier signaling modulator 750 that can send signaling asunderlay on all N usable subbands, and (4) a combiner 760 that performstime-domain combining.

Data modulator 710 includes a symbol-to-subband mapper 716, an IFFT unit718, a P/S converter 720, and a cyclic prefix generator 722 that operatein the manner described above for units 616, 618, 620, and 622,respectively, in FIG. 6. Data modulator 710 performs OFDM modulation ondata symbols and provides data chips.

Pilot modulator 730 includes a multiplier 732, a PN generator 734, asymbol-to-subband mapper 736, an IFFT unit 738, a P/S converter 740, anda cyclic prefix generator 742 that operate in the manner described abovefor units 632, 634, 636, 638, 640, and 642, respectively, in FIG. 6.However, pilot modulator 730 operates on pilot symbols instead ofsignaling data. Pilot modulator 730 spreads the pilot symbols with a PNsequence, maps the spread pilot symbols onto subbands and symbol periodsused for pilot transmission, and performs OFDM modulation on the mappedand spread pilot symbols to generate pilot chips. Different PN codes maybe used for pilot and signaling. The pilot symbols may be spread overfrequency, time, or both by selecting the proper PN code for the pilot.For example, a pilot symbol may be spread across S subbands in onesymbol period by multiplying with an S-chip PN sequence, spread across Rsymbol periods on one subband by multiplying with an R-chip PN sequence,or spread across all S subbands and R symbol periods of one hop periodby multiplying with an S×R-chip PN sequence.

Signaling modulator 750 includes a multiplier 752 and a PN generator 754that operate in the manner described above for units 632 and 634,respectively, in FIG. 6. Signaling modulator 750 spreads the signalingdata across all N usable subbands in the time domain and providessignaling chips. Signaling modulator 750 performs spreading in a mannersimilar to that performed for the reverse link in IS-95 and IS-2000 CDMAsystems.

Within combiner 760, multipliers 762 a, 762 b, and 762 c multiply thechips from modulators 710, 730, and 750, respectively, with gains ofG_(data), G_(pilot), and G_(signal), respectively, which determine theamount of transmit power used for traffic data, pilot, and signaling,respectively. A summer 764 sums the scaled chips from multipliers 762 a,762 b, and 762 c and provides the output chips for modulator 570 b.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show two embodiments of a modulator whereby the trafficdata, pilot, and signaling are combined in the time domain. The trafficdata, pilot, and signaling may also be combined in the frequency domain.

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram of a modulator 570 c, which may also beused for modulator 520 or 570 in FIG. 5. Modulator 570 c includes (1) adata modulator 810 that maps data symbols onto subbands used for datatransmission (2) a pilot modulator 820 that maps pilot symbols ontosubbands used for pilot transmission, (3) a multi-carrier signalingmodulator 830, (4) a combiner 860 that performs frequency-domaincombining, and (5) an OFDM modulator 870.

Within data modulator 810, a multiplier 814 receives and scales datasymbols with a gain of G_(data) and provides scaled data symbols. Asymbol-to-subband mapper 816 then maps the scaled data symbols onto thesubbands used for data transmission. Within pilot modulator 820, amultiplier 824 receives and scales pilot symbols with a gain ofG_(pilot) and provides scaled pilot symbols. A symbol-to-subband mapper826 then maps the scaled pilot symbols onto the subbands used for pilottransmission. Within signaling modulator 830, a multiplier 832 spreadssignaling data across the subbands used for signaling transmission witha PN sequence generated by a PN generator 834. A multiplier 835 scalesthe spread signaling data with a gain of G_(signal) and provides scaledand spread signaling data, which is then mapped onto the subbands usedfor signaling transmission by a symbol-to-subband mapper 836. Combiner860 includes N summers 862 a through 862 n for the N total subbands. Foreach symbol period, each summer 862 sums the scaled data, pilot, andsignaling symbols for the associated subband and provides a combinedsymbol. OFDM modulator 870 includes an IFFT unit 872, a P/S converter874, and a cyclic prefix generator 876 that operate in the mannerdescribed above for units 618, 620, and 622, respectively, in FIG. 6.OFDM modulator 870 performs OFDM modulation on the combined symbols fromcombiner 860 and provides output chips for modulator 570 c.

FIGS. 6 through 8 show three embodiments of a modulator that may be usedfor the base station and terminal. Other designs may also be used forthe modulator, and this is within the scope of the invention. Forexample, in FIG. 6, the output of multiplier 632 may be provided toanother input of multiplexer 614. Mapper 616 may then map the datasymbols, pilot symbols, and spread signaling data onto the propersubbands designated for traffic data, pilot, and signaling,respectively. This may be used to achieve the transmission shown in FIG.4C.

For simplicity, FIGS. 6 through 8 show one type of signaling beingprocessed. Different types of signaling (e.g., DRC, ACK-RL, and resourcerequests) may be multiplexed together (or orthogonalized in some manner)and processed using one signaling modulator. Alternatively, differenttypes of signaling may be processed using different signalingmodulators, which allows for flexibility. For example, on the forwardlink, the DRC requests may be spread across all N usable subbands andsent as underlay, the resource grant messages may be sent on a sharedResGrant-FL channel, and the ACKs for different terminals may be sent ondedicated ACK-FL channels. Different signaling modulators may be usedfor the DRCReq-FL, ResGrant-FL, and ACK-FL channels. Different signalingmodulators may also be used for different signaling channels on thereverse link.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of a demodulator 530 a, which may be usedfor demodulator 530 or 560 in FIG. 5. Demodulator 530 a performsprocessing complementary to the processing performed by modulator 570 ain FIG. 6. Demodulator 530 a includes an OFDM demodulator 910, a datademodulator 920, and a multi-carrier signaling demodulator 940.

Within OFDM demodulator 910, a cyclic prefix removal unit 912 obtainsN+C received samples for each OFDM symbol period, removes the cyclicprefix, and provides N received samples for a received transformedsymbol. A serial-to-parallel (S/P) converter 914 provides the N receivedsamples in parallel form. An FFT unit 916 transforms the N receivedsamples to the frequency domain with an N-point FFT and provides Nreceived symbols for the N total subbands.

Within signaling demodulator 940, a symbol-to-subband demapper 942obtains the received symbols for all N total subbands from OFDMdemodulator 910 and passes only the received symbols for the subbandsused for signaling transmission. A multiplier 944 multiplies thereceived symbols from demapper 942 with the PN sequence used forsignaling, which is generated by a PN generator 946. An accumulator 948accumulates the output of multiplier 944 over the length of the PNsequence and provides detected signaling data.

Within data demodulator 920, a symbol-to-subband demapper 922 obtainsthe received symbols for all N total subbands and passes only thereceived symbols for the subbands used for traffic data and pilot. Ademultiplexer (Demux) 924 provides received pilot symbols to a channelestimator 930 and received data symbols to a summer 934. Channelestimator 930 processes the received pilot symbols and derives a channelestimate Ĥ_(data) for the subbands used for traffic data and a channelestimate Ĥ_(signal) for the subbands used for signaling. An interferenceestimator 936 receives the detected signaling data and the Ĥ_(signal)channel estimate, estimates the interference due to the detectedsignaling data, and provides an interference estimate to summer 934.Summer 934 subtracts the interference estimate from the received datasymbols and provides interference-canceled symbols. The interferenceestimation and cancellation may be omitted, e.g., if the Ĥ_(signal)channel estimate is not available. A data detector 938 performs datadetection (e.g., matched filtering, equalization, and so on) on theinterference-canceled symbols with the Ĥ_(data) channel estimate andprovides detected data symbols.

FIG. 10 shows a block diagram of a demodulator 530 b, which may also beused for demodulator 530 or 560 in FIG. 5. Demodulator 530 b performsprocessing complementary to the processing performed by modulator 570 bin FIG. 7. Demodulator 530 b includes OFDM demodulator 910, a datademodulator 1020, and a signaling demodulator 1040.

Within signaling demodulator 1040, a multiplier 1044 multiplies the datasamples with the PN sequence used for signaling, which is generated by aPN generator 1046. An accumulator 1048 accumulates the output ofmultiplier 1044 over the length of the PN sequence and provides thedetected signaling data.

Within data demodulator 1020, a symbol-to-subband demapper 1022 obtainsthe received symbols for all N total subbands from OFDM demodulator 910and passes only the received pilot symbols for the subbands used forpilot transmission. A multiplier 1024 and an accumulator 1028 performdespreading on the received pilot symbols with the PN sequence used forthe pilot, which is generated by a PN generator 1026. The pilotdespreading is performed in a manner complementary to the pilotspreading. A channel estimator 1030 processes the despread pilot symbolsand derives the Ĥ_(data) channel estimate for the subbands used fortraffic data and the channel estimate for the subbands used forsignaling.

A symbol-to-subband demapper 1032 also obtains the received symbols forall N total subbands and passes only the received data symbols for thesubbands used for traffic data. An interference estimator 1036 estimatesthe interference due to the detected signaling and provides theinterference estimate to a summer 1034, which subtracts the interferenceestimate from the received data symbols and provides theinterference-canceled symbols. A data detector 1038 performs datadetection on the interference-canceled symbols with the Ĥ_(data) channelestimate and provides the detected data symbols.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show two embodiments of a demodulator that may be usedfor the base station and terminal. Other designs may also be used forthe demodulator, and this is within the scope of the invention. Ingeneral, the processing by the demodulator at one entity is determinedby, and is complementary to, the processing by the modulator at theother entity.

Although not shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 for simplicity, the pilot may alsobe canceled if it is transmitted as underlay. For pilot cancellation,the pilot is reconstructed in either the time or frequency domain. Fortime-domain processing, an impulse response of the wireless channel isderived based on the received pilot symbols and circularly convolvedwith the output of an OFDM modulator whose input is the PN sequence usedto spread the pilot symbols. The reconstructed pilot is then subtractedfrom the received samples to obtain pilot-canceled samples, which areprovided to OFDM demodulator 910. For frequency-domain processing, theknown pilot symbols are spread with the PN sequence and furthermultiplied with the channel gain estimates to generate reconstructedpilot symbols for different subbands and/or symbol periods. Thesereconstructed pilot symbols are then subtracted from the receivedsymbols to obtain pilot-canceled symbols, which are provided to summer934 or 1034.

The signaling transmission and reception techniques described herein maybe implemented by various means. For example, these techniques may beimplemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For ahardware implementation, the processing units used for signalingtransmission may be implemented within one or more application specificintegrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digitalsignal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs),field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers,micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed toperform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof. Theprocessing units used for signaling reception may also be implementedwithin one or more ASICs, DSPs, and so on.

For a software implementation, the techniques described herein may beimplemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) thatperform the functions described herein. The software codes may be storedin a memory unit (e.g., memory unit 542 or 582 in FIG. 5) and executedby a processor (e.g., controller 540 or 580). The memory unit may beimplemented within the processor or external to the processor.

The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided toenable any person skilled in the art to make or use the presentinvention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readilyapparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles definedherein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from thespirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is notintended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to beaccorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novelfeatures disclosed herein.

1. An apparatus for use in a wireless communication system, comprising:a modulating component configured to select M frequency subbands fortransmission of signaling data from N frequency subbands available fortransmission, and to select L frequency subbands for transmission ofdata symbols from the N frequency subbands, wherein M, N, and L areintegers, and wherein the M frequency subbands include at least a subsetof the L frequency subbands.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein themodulating component comprises a signaling modulator configured tospread the signaling data over the M frequency subbands.
 3. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the modulating component comprises a datamodulator configured to map the data symbols onto the L frequency bands.4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the modulating component furthercomprises a combiner configured to combine signaling chips representingthe signaling data with data chips representing the data symbols toyield output chips.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein M is equal to Nand the modulating component is configured to utilize all N usablefrequency subbands for transmission of the signaling data.
 6. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein M is less than N and the modulatingcomponent is configured to utilize a subset of the N usable frequencysubbands for transmission of the signaling data.
 7. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein M is equal to L and the modulating component isconfigured to utilize the M frequency subbands for both signalingtransmission and data transmission.
 8. The apparatus of claim 2, whereinthe signaling modulator is configured to spread the signaling data fortransmission to a terminal using a pseudo-random number (PN) sequenceassigned to the wireless terminal.
 9. The apparatus of claim 2, whereinthe signaling modulator is configured to multiply the signaling datawith a pseudo-random number (PN) sequence to generate signaling chips.10. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the combiner is configured toperform time-domain combining of the signaling chips and the data chips.11. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the combiner is configured toperform frequency-domain combining of the signaling chips and the datachips.
 12. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a transmittingunit configured to generate a modulated signal based on the outputchips, the modulated signal having the signaling data spread over the Mfrequency subbands and having the data symbols mapped onto the Lfrequency subbands.
 13. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the signalingmodulator is configured to spread signaling data for two or moreterminals over the M frequency subbands.
 14. The apparatus of claim 4,wherein the combiner is further configured to adjust signaling transmitpower for transmission of the signaling data on the M frequency subbandsas a function of a signal-to-noise ratio (SINR) requirement of aterminal.
 15. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the combiner is furtherconfigured to transmit the signaling data on the M frequency subbands ata different power level than that used to transmit the data symbols onthe L frequency subbands.
 16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the Mfrequency subbands are grouped into two or more dedicated signalingchannels that are respectively assigned to different terminals or groupsof terminals.
 17. A method for allocating signaling and data on a systembandwidth, comprising: allocating L frequency subbands selected from Navailable frequency subbands for transmission of data symbols, where Land N are integers; and allocating M frequency subbands selected fromthe N available frequency subbands for transmission of signaling data,where M is an integer and wherein the M frequency subbands include atleast a subset of the L frequency subbands.
 18. The method of claim 17,further comprising spreading the signaling data over the M frequencysubbands.
 19. The method of claim 17, further comprising mapping thedata symbols onto the L frequency subbands.
 20. The method of claim 17,further comprising combining signaling chips representing the signalingdata with data chips representing the data symbols to yield outputchips.
 21. The method of claim 17, further comprising selecting the Mfrequency subbands such that M is equal to N.
 22. The method of claim17, further comprising selecting the M frequency subbands such that M isless than N.
 23. The method of claim 17, further comprising selectingthe M frequency subbands such that M is equal to L.
 24. The method ofclaim 23, further comprising utilizing the M frequency subbands fortransmission of both the data symbols and the signaling data.
 25. Themethod of claim 18, wherein the spreading the signaling data comprisesspreading the signaling data using a pseudo-random number (PN) sequenceassigned to a terminal to which the signaling data is to be transmitted26. The method of claim 18, wherein the spreading the signaling datacomprises multiplying the signaling data with a pseudo-random (PN)sequence to generate signaling chips.
 27. The method of claim 20,wherein the combining comprises performing time-domain combining of thesignaling chips and the data chips.
 28. The method of claim 20, whereinthe combining comprises performing frequency-domain combining of thesignaling chips and the data chips.
 29. The method of claim 20, furthercomprising generating a modulated signal based on the output chips, themodulated signal having the signaling data spread over the M frequencysubbands and having the data symbols mapped onto the L frequencysubbands.
 30. The method of claim 18, wherein the spreading thesignaling data comprises spreading the signaling data for two or moreterminals over the M frequency subbands.
 31. The method of claim 17,further comprising: determining a signal-to-noise ratio (SINR)requirement for a terminal; and adjusting signaling transmit power fortransmission of the signaling data on the M frequency subbands as afunction of the SINR requirement.
 32. The method of claim 17, furthercomprising: transmitting the signaling data on the M frequency subbandsat a first power level; and transmitting the data symbols on the Lfrequency subbands at a second power level, wherein the first powerlevel is different than the second power level.
 33. The method of claim17, further comprising grouping the M frequency subbands into two ormore dedicated signaling channels that are assigned to respectiveterminals or groups of terminals.
 34. A system for transmittingsignaling data and data symbols, comprising: means for transmitting datasymbols over L frequency subbands selected from N available frequencysubbands, where L and N are integers; and means for transmittingsignaling data over M frequency subbands selected from the N availablefrequency subbands, where M is an integer and wherein the M frequencysubbands include at least a subset of the L frequency subbands.
 35. Themethod of claim 34, further comprising means for spreading the signalingdata over the M frequency subbands.
 36. The method of claim 34, furthercomprising means for mapping the data symbols onto the L frequencysubbands.
 37. The method of claim 34, further comprising means forcombining signaling chips representing the signaling data with datachips representing the data symbols to yield output chips.
 38. Themethod of claim 35, wherein the means for spreading the signaling datacomprises means for multiplying the signaling data with a pseudo-random(PN) sequence to generate signaling chips.
 39. The method of claim 37,wherein the means for combining comprises means for performingtime-domain combining of the signaling chips and the data chips.
 40. Themethod of claim 37, wherein the means for combining comprises means forperforming frequency-domain combining of the signaling chips and thedata chips.
 41. The method of claim 37, further comprising means forgenerating a modulated signal based on the output chips having thesignaling data spread over the M frequency subbands and having the datasymbols mapped onto the L frequency subbands.
 42. The method of claim34, further comprising means for adjusting a signaling transmit powerfor transmission of the signaling data on the M frequency subbands as afunction of a signal-to-noise ratio (SINR) requirement for a terminal.43. The method of claim 34, further comprising means for transmittingthe signaling data and the data symbols at respective different powerlevels.
 44. A computer-readable medium having stored thereoncomputer-executable instructions for: allocating L frequency subbandsselected from N available frequency subbands for transmission of datasymbols, where L and N are integers; and allocating M frequency subbandsselected from the N available frequency subbands for transmission ofsignaling data, where M is an integer and wherein the M frequencysubbands include at least a subset of the L frequency subbands.
 45. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 44, the computer-executableinstructions further for spreading the signaling data over the Mfrequency subbands.
 46. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, thecomputer-executable instructions further for mapping the data symbolsonto the L frequency subbands.
 47. The computer-readable medium of claim44, the computer-executable instructions further for combining signalingchips representing the signaling data with data chips representing thedata symbols to yield output chips.
 48. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 47, the computer-executable instructions further for performingtime-domain combining of the signaling chips and the data chips.
 49. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 47, the computer-executableinstructions further for performing frequency-domain combining of thesignaling chips and the data chips.
 50. An apparatus in a wirelesscommunication, comprising: a demodulator configured to recover signalingdata received on M frequency subbands of N usable subbands of a receivedsignal and to recover data symbols received on L frequency subbands ofthe N usable subbands, wherein the M frequency subbands include at leasta subset of the L frequency subbands.
 51. The apparatus of claim 50,further comprising an orthogonal frequency division multilpexing (OFDM)demodulator configured to perform demodulation on samples received fromthe received signal to yield received symbols.
 52. The apparatus ofclaim 51, further comprising a signaling demodulator configured toperform despreading on a first subset of the received symbolscorresponding to the M frequency subbands to yield the signaling data.53. The apparatus of claim 51, further comprising a data demodulatorconfigured to perform despreading on a second subset of the receivedsymbols corresponding to the L frequency subbands to yield the datasymbols.
 54. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein the signalingdemodulator is configured to multiply the first subset of receivedsamples with a pseudo-random number (PN) sequence and to accumulateresults of the multiplication to obtain the signaling data.